The "Manhattan Optimist Club Bulletin" #41: 7-12-23
VOLUME 2023 July 12, 2023 NUMBER 41
President Thad Hall welcomed the membership, followed by the Flag Salute.
Program Introduction:
Mike Fincham introduced Karen Everhart, Executive Director/Co-Founder of Rainbow Meadows Equine Rescue. Karen was a horse lover from birth and she and David had been looking for the opportunity to give back to the creatures that had brought them so much joy for so many years. That opportunity finally arose with the establishment of Rainbow Meadows Ranch. The rescue is housed on a 160-acre ranch and supports numerous rescued and retired horses.
Karen shared a video created by Better Horses which is a show aired on the RFD channel, Cowboy.com, and on stations around the Topeka area and a few others. It was collected and edited in September of 2022. The film provides an overview of what they provide for the horses and the volunteers. A link to the video is below.
Rainbow Meadows Equine Rescue and Retirement, Inc. was founded in 2005 in Chautauqua County, Kansas and relocated to Geary County, near Junction City in March of 2020. The need for equine rescue and retirement is as great now as when they started. They have rescued over 1,000 horses over the last 18 years and adopted out horses across the United States. A majority of their horses are adopted in Kansas and surrounding states. The most important component is the volunteers who believe in what they are doing and want to take part in that, which allows them to expand programs and capacity. They believe that the horse owes them nothing and Rainbow Meadows provides good stewardship, rehabilitation, often emotional, and development of trust from the horses. They then train horses to become a reliable partner and be eligible for adoption. The facility can only support about 40 horses, thus preparing horses for successful adoption allows another needy horse to be rescued. Rainbow Meadows is a “first responder” to horses in need of rescue, sometimes from neglect, including law enforcement action against an owner, and sometimes because an owner can no longer take care of the animal.
A second segment of the video featured a father and son team of volunteers who talked about the volunteer experience at Rainbow Meadows Ranch. They had been looking for a volunteer experience for their autistic son and visited the ranch and felt this would be a great experience for him. The father accompanies his son and monitors his son’s tasks etc. Of course, he helps too, but leaves most of the tasks to his son, who looks forward to coming to the ranch each week. He has developed a strong sense of responsibility to take care of the horses. They not only learn about how to care for the horses, but also how to treat common ailments of the horses. They had training on how to interact with the horse prior to beginning to actually work with the horses. Both know the horses by name and can identify them and know their personality. Horses are adopted and new horses come to the ranch, and they develop a connection to the animals that they both enjoy.
The third segment featured the Assistant Director of Rainbow Meadows Ranch. She shared the status board, a very large wall size display board, they use to keep track of routine needs of the horses, such as vaccinations, hoof trimming, weight, dental checkups, rabies shots, etc. This record begins as the horse is processed into the facility. All of this is to ensure that the horses stay healthy.
The fourth segment features the part water plays the health of the horses and how it is provided to them, not only in warm weather, but also in Kansas’s freezing winters. Horses can develop colic which is a compaction of hay in the intestinal track plugging them up; this is often caused by the horse not consuming enough water, especially in winter. In rare instances, the horse can die from it. Keeping horses drinking, especially in winter, is very important to the health of the horse, thus they add molasses to the water so the horses will drink more. The ranch has numerous tank heaters and other methods of providing adequate water for the animals. It is critical they maintain the widespread water system so the animals will have adequate water.
The fifth segment featured a Kansas State University Animal Science and Industry student, who is interested in becoming a veterinarian and works at the ranch as a volunteer. She first came with a school club, and they leveled the stalls to make the horses more comfortable. She had three years prior experience with horses and loves them. It is important to her to find something she could do outside of school, something she could come and enjoy, spend some time away from campus, and keep getting involved with horses. She is enthralled when in the presence of horses and enjoys all of their unique personalities. She enjoys coming to Rainbow Meadows Ranch because it gets her out of her comfort zone, while still familiarizing herself with horses almost on a daily basis. She appreciates the staff and leadership, and all the other volunteers, and really understands the importance of the role of the volunteers. Volunteering allows her to see the horses when they come in and watch them develop into new beings. It feels wonderful being part of that transformation.
Following the video, Karen reviewed key points. Rainbow Meadows Ranch is a 5013c Nonprofit and is certified by two groups, one an international group and the second is a United States based group. Both groups come into the facility and evaluate the operation for animal welfare, organizational structure, and financial stewardship, as well as their knowledge, facility cleanliness, volunteer program, and everything else they do. These organizations will not allow them to carry their certification if Rainbow Meadows Ranch does not meet their standards. The ranch is the cream of the crop; there are only about 100-120 organizations in the United Stated with this certification.
She also emphasized that they are primarily volunteer based. People come to help them who believe in their work and do not receive any kind of monetary compensation. David, her husband, and her founded the operation in 2005 and it has been a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year operation, and they had done it as volunteers.
In the fall of 2022 they initiated a program, Read to Our Rescue, where mid to upper elementary students would read to the horses in a very safe way. She wrote a book and had it illustrated by a volunteer; it is like a coloring book that depicts welfare related issues which describes a horse they rescued. It is about the horse, a little bit before he came to the ranch and describes the horse’s rehabilitation, training, and his eventual adoption. They plan to have field trips for 3rd to 5th graders to come out during the horses’ feeding time and read to the horses. They hope to influence their attitude toward animal welfare as it relates to equine, horses, mules, and donkeys.
They are also instituting a program involving therapists to work clients who will benefit from interacting with the horses.
Karen Showed the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUtvZ_VUdmQ
Guests:
Thad Hall recognized our guest speaker, Karen Everhart, and her husband, Dave.
Club Stuff/Announcements:
Doug Jardine shared he completed the Bike Across Kanas and just got back from the International Optimist Convention and said it was a fabulous meeting. Frank Henderson, a member of the Topeka Sunrise Optimist Club spoke.
Doug also noted the District Meeting Potluck at Optimist Park is Friday, August 18th at 6:00 PM. All members and families are welcome to attend. Meat and drinks will be provided. Please bring a side dish and allow extra so out-of-town guests do not need to bring anything.
The District Meeting is at the Hilton Garden Inn, 410 South Third Street on Saturday, August 19th at 8:00 AM. All members are welcome to attend. Registration forms were placed on the tables. Mike Finnegan, Ph.D. of the Kansas State Leadership Studies will be one of the speakers, and Sara Maass, recently appointed 4-H Director for the State of Kansas will also speak, as will Dave Bruns, from the Lawrence Breakfast Optimist Club, and in 2015 was president of the International Optimist Club. The meeting will also provide training for club secretaries and presidents. There is a business meeting, then an evening banquet and breakfast on Sunday morning followed by a short memorial service to honor members who have passed.
President Hall thanked Bruce Bidwell for organizing another successful T-Ball season.
The next Board meeting is scheduled for July 25th at the Manhattan Public Library. The Board meetings are open to the membership to attend.
Next Week’s Program – Wednesday July 19th at 7:00 AM:
Brian Peete, director of the Riley County Police Department will speak on police activity.
July Meeting Schedule:
Wednesday, July 26th at noon: Vivienne Leyva & Associates, Riley County Public Information Department will speak on the History of the Riley County Fire District #1.
Adjourned with the Optimist Creed